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10 Central London Museums to Visit When They Reopen

Many of London's Best Museums Will Need Our Help to Survive The Next Few Months...

By RtotalmagicPublished 4 years ago 8 min read
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The Mail Rail at the Postal Museum

With Britain gradually reopening after the COVID-19 lockdown, London’s many museums can now sense a light at the end of the tunnel. However, it will be quite a challenge to get up and running again. Since they closed on March 18th, museums have lost around four months of revenue, and the combination of social distancing restrictions and a wider reluctance to travel will lead to a reduced income for many months. Major museums (The National Gallery, The V&A, etc) will be able to recover, but smaller museums are in genuine danger of closing. Therefore, it would be a good idea to support more obscure museums which often get overlooked by tourists and the public. These 10 Central London museums are in a particularly fragile position, but really deserve to stay open for years to come. It is certainly worth paying a visit to them during the remainder of 2020…

1. Charles Dickens Museum

This year marks 150 years since the death of Charles Dickens, and his stories show no signs of losing popularity. If you want to know more about the man behind Oliver Twist, David Copperfield and A Christmas Carol, the Charles Dickens Museum is the perfect place to start. Dickens stayed here whilst writing Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby, and the house is full of displays which highlight Dickens’ rapid rise though the literary world, as he channelled his writing skills into a career as one of the foremost celebrities of the Victorian age. However, it also highlights the darker side of his life, with possessions from his dead daughter and a section from the door of the debtor’s prison where his father was incarcerated. The Charles Dickens Museum allows audiences to experience the early Victorian environment where Dickens made his name, but also highlights why he remains so popular to this day.

2. The Foundling Museum

Today, Russell Square is right in the heart of London, but in the 18th century, it was removed from the stresses and strains of urban life. In the 1740s, Thomas Coram set up The Foundling Hospital there, raising orphans and other children whose parents were unable to look after them. The Foundling Hospital moved away from London in 1929 and closed a few decades later, but its history is commemorated by The Foundling Museum, which features a fascinating exhibition about the establishment of the hospital and the life of the “foundlings” who lived there. The museum combines this with a fine art collection, including William Hogarth’s famous painting The March of the Guards. The third floor contains a gallery on the composer Handel, who was a notable patron of the Museum. In addition, there are fascinating temporary exhibitions in the basement, alternating between art shows and explorations of 18th century life.

3. Benjamin Franklin House

Benjamin Franklin is probably the most iconic of the American Founding Fathers, but not many people know that he spent a full 16 years in Britain. For most of this time, he rented rooms in a Georgian lodging house a few feet from Charing Cross. The Benjamin Franklin House has been preserved, and now hosts an immersive Historical Experience. Visitors are guided through the rooms by an actress who interacts with video projections that explain how Franklin turned from an Anglophile diplomat into an American revolutionary. Using 21st century technology in this old wooden house (which still retains many features from Franklin’s time), the Historical Experience has a unique sort of magic that really makes Franklin’s story come alive. On Mondays, there are more straightforward “Architecture Tours” which discard the projections to focus on the history of the house itself. Whilst waiting for the Historical Experience to start, visitors can look at a small exhibition in the basement which contains the sinister Craven Street Bones – used in anatomy classes by an acquaintance of Franklin. The Franklin House has a very limited capacity (only a maximum of 15 people are allowed in at any one time), but it teaches us about Franklin’s eventful life in a creative and engaging way, discussing his political writing, his scientific work and his more eccentric interests such as the Glass Harmonica…

4. House of Illustration

Based at Granary Square, the House of Illustration provides a unique insight into modern art and drawing. It focuses almost entirely on exhibitions, with two spaces (The Main Gallery, and the smaller South Gallery) hosting exhibitions on a variety of topics. They generally provide insight into aspects of political and cultural history, with the Main Gallery generally focusing on British creatives and the South Gallery showcasing international work. There is also a third gallery which features a constantly rotating section of work from the legendary illustrator Quentin Blake, who is a major patron. When Britain entered lockdown, the museum was hosting an excellent Main Gallery exhibition on the designer George Him, and this has been extended to September to allow visitors to enjoy it after lockdown. It will be followed by an exhibition about the work of Raymond Briggs, the illustrator behind The Snowman.

5. Sir John Soane’s Museum

During his life, the architect Sir John Soane collected thousands of artefacts, ranging from books and paintings to casts of statues. Sir John Soane’s Museum crowds these into three adjoining buildings in Lincolns Inn Fields, providing visitors with an enthralling journey through his collection. Soane himself established this museum, constantly changing the layout during his later years, His distinct gifts as an architect gave the building a distinctly grand and mysterious feel, which blends perfectly with the surrounding treasures. Although he was a popular and prominent architect in his time, Sir John Soane’s Museum is his greatest legacy.

6. The Postal Museum

Since it opened in 2017, The Postal Museum in Clerkenwell has become a true highlight of the area, receiving a nomination for Museum of the Year. The main attraction at the museum is the Mail Rail, which invites visitors on a tour of the underground tunnels used to transport mail across London until 2003. The tour has been available to view online during lockdown but sitting in the small trains and taking the journey yourself is quite an experience. Even if you are unable or unwilling to do this, the Postal Museum still provides a lot of entertainment. It outlines the history of London’s postal service from the 1700s to the present day, with plenty of interactive features to keep families happy. Highlights of the collection include unusual letters and postcards, Britain’s first postage stamps, and even an old mail coach. In the age of Amazon, we often take the work of the postal service for granted, but The Postal Museum provides a much-needed insight into their work.

7. Dr Johnson's House

Dr Johnson's House is based in Gough Square, an oasis of courts and alleys in the heart of City of London. The legendary writer and lexicographer Samuel Johnson lived there whilst compiling his great dictionary and wrote satirical stories and poems which showcased his famously larger-than-life personality. He lived in 17 London addresses during his career, but Dr Johnson's House is the only one which is still standing today. The 18th century building primarily showcases prints, paintings and manuscripts depicting Johnson and the London he inhabited, as well as a collection of “Johnsoniana” highlighting his cultural impact. There is a vast library, and the museum also holds exhibitions that put Johnson’s life and work into a wider historical context. Paying tribute to the power of words and the vast changes to London during the Georgian era, Dr Johnson's House represents an escape from the bustle of the city.

8. The Photographers’ Gallery

Based in the heart of Soho, The Photographers’ Gallery is a tall and narrow building which is perfectly suited to the area. Like the House of Illustration, it does not have a permanent gallery, but relies on two rotating exhibitions (one larger and one smaller) to draw in customers. Some of these examine relatively mainstream subjects (such as the portrayal of food), whilst others are more esoteric, but they still represent a fascinating glimpse into a section of art which often gets overlooked. Artists are the primary audience for this museum, and there is a substantial programme of lectures and classes, but casual visitors will also find a lot to enjoy. It also features a large photography shop, which is bound to inspire artists to explore the form in further detail. Visiting The Photographers’ Gallery really highlights the artistic possibilities in the field of photography.

9. The Cartoon Museum

From Hogarth's satirical drawings to Alan Moore’s graphic novels, cartoons, caricatures, and comic books have become recognised as one of the defining British forms of culture. When it was established in 2006, The Cartoon Museum was located on a Holborn alleyway, but in 2019, It moved to a larger venue near Oxford Street. The renovation has really benefited The Cartoon Museum, as the underground galleries provide an adventurous atmosphere and the brighter, more colourful rooms are perfectly suited to the rebellious, chaotic medium it is paying tribute to. The Cartoon Museum is both an effective chronicle of the history of cartoons and a feast of nostalgia for older audiences, with plenty of items that comment on the cultural and political changes of recent years.

10. Handel and Hendrix Museum

Based in the affluent Mayfair, the Handel and Hendrix Museum pays tribute to two musical icons who inhabited adjoining houses over two centuries apart. The composer George Frederic Handel moved into 25 Brook Street in 1723 and stayed there for the rest of his life. He worked on his iconic opera Messiah in this building, and even sold tickets and scores there. People interested in Handel will appreciate the way the Handel House, examines his role in British society and his celebrity status. The Handel section provides an authentic look at an 18th century household, with plenty of guided tours and even a series of concerts. In contrast, the Hendrix House celebrates the messier world of Jimi Hendrix, who lived at 23 Brook Street whilst recording his 1968 album Electric Ladybird. Although it only fully opened in 2016, the Hendrix House is the highlight of the museum, with a faithful reproduction of his bedroom which will doubtlessly trigger plenty of 1960s nostalgia. There is also a small museum which explains Hendrix’s life story and his role in developing the psychedelic rock culture of the period. Hendrix personally acknowledged the link with Handel, as he added Messiah to his record collection, allowing it to become an influence on Electric Ladybird. The Handel and Hendrix Museum represents a fascinating culture clash which allows audiences to see the differences and similarities between the worlds of 18th century classical music and 20th century rock.

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